In earlier posts towards the tail end of last year and early this year, I committed to writing a number of posts on filtering. The background is simple: - soon, everything and everyone will be connected - that includes people, devices, creatures, inanimate objects, even concepts (like a tweet or a theme) - at the same time, the cost of sensors and actuators is dropping at least as fast as compute and storage - so that means everything and everyone can now publish status and alerts of pretty much anything - there’s the potential for a whole lotta publishing to happen - which in turn means it’s firehose time - so we need filters - which is why the stream/filter/drain approach is becoming more common - and which is why I want to spend time on all this during 2014, starting with the filter"
Via Howard Rheingold

wayne_b's insight:

An interesting series of articles about how we select information and what we need to be aware of when we choose tools to include in our PLN.

Lea Verou always provides up-to-date reviews and this is no exception. Here she summarizes the changes in html5 - drop of hgroup, addition of main, and other concerns. Also a reference to the close arrival of Flexbox, and some good articles on the subject to get anyone up to speed on the layout solution for website development - at least one of several upcoming solutions! And why not get into where CSS 4 is going - just to keep you on the edge of your seat type news. And then there are two new API's and CSS Shapes. Thanks for the always accurate and timely info!

Diigo is a social bookmarking website that is used for bookmarking and tagging web pages. Furthermore, it has functions like to highlight any part of a webpage and attach sticky notes these notes can be sent to contacts via a special link.

"The process of combining more primitive pieces of information to create something more meaningful is a crucial aspect both of learning and of consciousness and is one of the defining features of human experience. Once we have reached adulthood, we have decades of intensive learning behind us, where the discovery of thousands of useful combinations of features, as well as combinations of combinations and so on, has collectively generated an amazingly rich, hierarchical model of the world. Inside us is also written a multitude of mini strategies about how to direct our attention in order to maximize further learning. We can allow our attention to roam anywhere around us and glean interesting new clues about any facet of our local environment, to compare and potentially add to our extensive internal model."

It is the process of combining various pieces of information to create something new and more meaningful - that is our learning process. As we combine information from one person or site, and add the thoughts of someone else, that we generate new ideas or expressions of those combined thoughts.

What makes the difference, Bor argues, is a concept called chunking, which allows us to hack the limits of our working memory — a kind of cognitive compression mechanism wherein we parse information into chunks that are more memorable and easier to process than the seemingly random bits of which they’re composed.

For the past seven years, Techmeme, the technology news aggregator, has relied heavily on algorithms to help it organize hundreds of breaking reports every day. While it has employed a growing team of editors to sift ...

wayne_b's insight:

Quality development of algorithms are a key factor in fine tuning how we target the type and quality of information we need in gathering the research for personal learning environments. Tools that allow users to contribute to shaping these algorithms are vital to an open learning approach

“ A paper published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest has evaluated ten techniques for improving learning, ranging from mnemonics to highlighting and came to some surprising conclusions.”
Via Miloš Bajčetić

wayne_b's insight:

A little old sounding but elements that can be considered when working towards new ways of learning.

Google will soon launch Google Web Designer, an HTML5 development tool for "creative professionals." The service, Google says, will launch within "the coming months" and is meant to "empower creative professionals to create cutting-edge advertising...

wayne_b's insight:

Not sure this is a good thing, as it appears to be another WYSIWYG type of development tool, and it targets ad creation - web apps - probably Android only. Possibly targets non-developers more than the professional market.

Mark Tilly, developer of the MyCurator WordPress Plugin, does a good job in suggesting how, content curation tools, like the one he has developed, can be effetively utilized to keep tabs on your competition and what it is up to.

"You can build an automated ‘competitive research portal’ that will provide a weekly roundup of key, targeted articles to your executive team."

He provides basic steps, advice and recommendations for what to check and monitor and how to make this information useful inside your company network.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.